Own the Money: Closing High-Ticket Sales with Don Cagle

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Every one of them slammed the door in my face, Dad, and he said, Well, son, don't worry, I've got a secret for you.
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Here's the secret.
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Don't tell everybody, just use it and live by it.
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He said, For every 30 doors you knock, someone buys.
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And the kid says, Huh, for every 30 doors I knock, someone buys?
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So the kid's running from door to door.
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Hey, you interested?
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Hey, hey, you're interested?
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He's got such enthusiasm that he's selling.
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We are back for another great episode of that big talk about small business.com.
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Um, hopefully these are small businesses are growing businesses.
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I hope so.
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Because that's the point in business.
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That's it.
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Right.
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Oh, wait a minute.
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Is that the point?
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Or should it be more about balance life and oh chilling?
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There's no such thing.
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We all know that.
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Grow business.
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Let's grow business.
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Let's grow business.
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So we got in the studio today uh a friend of mine here.
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Uh he's a pretty recent friend, but he's a brother from another mother, just like Eric.
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Nice.
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And and we bonded immediately.
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Um, this is Don Cagle, and Don is a in charge of sales of swimming pools for HomePro Pool Company, which is unbelievable company.
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Okay.
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So I just want to start out by saying, whatever Don's selling, if you don't want it, you don't want to talk to this guy because you're going to end up buying it.
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Okay.
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So, and and Don's had a variety of businesses along the way and uh serial entrepreneur.
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Serial entrepreneur, but I've never seen a guy who can sell like this guy.
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Yeah.
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I love it.
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Well, I take it serious.
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I take it very serious.
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You do?
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I could have uh went to uh an additional eight years of college and maybe become a doctor or something like that.
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But instead I thought, you know, if you put the same effort into sales, you're gonna be successful.
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Bro, is that not the truth?
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I literally live it, breathe it, eat it, sleep it, and whatever I can do to grow it.
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That's what I do.
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Well, can we start there?
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I'm gonna I'm gonna start there real quick about just the sale, the perspective of sales and especially young folks' minds.
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Yeah, yeah.
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I really believe it's like it is what carries the world forward, the whole economy forward is sales.
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Everything we got at sales, you can have it.
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It's the livelihood, it's the heartbeat of any business.
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It is how you're gonna move without sales, and nobody like like teaches you, or you don't have an ask, there's not even a sales course in high school.
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Yeah.
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Anything about it.
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There's no pathway, there's no light to it.
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You just kind of stumble upon it in a way, and then there's the negative image that some people have that oh, if you sell, you gotta lie.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Exactly.
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I've never taken someone making a joke about me being, oh, he's the salesman.
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Oh, watch Don.
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He's a salesman.
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You know, I take that with pride.
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Yeah, that's me.
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Watch out.
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I mean, I had someone tell me one time, they said, Hey, Don, uh, right, it's when I sell them uh signing and windows.
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Uh-huh.
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He said, It's good to see you, Don.
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It's good to see you, but I'm gonna let you know something.
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At my mother's house, I put your picture up by the front door.
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You did.
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He said, Yeah.
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I told her, if this guy comes to your front door, don't answer the compliment.
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I literally take that as a compliment.
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So I just to talk about the pool business, and I want to get into some of the stuff Don's done because he had a variety of businesses that are pretty interesting.
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But but talking about the pool business, Home Pro Pools is an unbelievable company.
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Okay.
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I've had a lot of houses with pools.
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I built pools before, you know, I was a general contractor.
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These guys are so organized and so fast, and they it every time somebody came to my house to do something, they would call and say, Now, uh, did so-and-so show up?
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Now, what happened?
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You have any questions or problems with that?
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Yeah, I've never dealt with a company like that.
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They would proactively call.
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Proactively call, not waiting for you.
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And Don, who's the sales guy, he's not out there doing the construction.
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Any issue or question I had, I could text this guy and he would respond in about 10 seconds.
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And you love that.
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Oh, I love that.
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He's my kind of guy like that.
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Everybody does.
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So let me interject there.
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So sales doesn't just stop with the sale.
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No.
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Because I look at it like, and this may be the right way, maybe the wrong way to look at it.
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I look at it like one cell can lead to 10 cells.
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Absolutely.
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And it's an interview.
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Whenever you go to approach this cell, it's an interview.
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You want to, you're at a you're at a job interview.
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Do you like me?
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Do you like what I've got to offer?
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Are you gonna buy from me?
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You are gonna buy from me, and are your friends and family gonna buy from me?
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So every phone call that comes through, I take it.
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It could be, hey, how come they just dump gravel on my front yard?
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Or it could be, hey, you know my sister wants a pull.
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Yeah, no, you're right.
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Yeah.
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So what you're saying, I mean, like you're saying, like custom, like the service part, right?
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Is continue on.
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We have this wonderful thing going on nowadays.
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It's called five-star.
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And if you look at every cell like you want to be a five-star, it's gonna go all the way through it.
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You're not gonna be a five-star if you're not answering the phone calls.
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That is how I found y'all in the first place.
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They had something like 589 five-star reviews.
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Okay.
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Now, pool companies have a terrible reputation.
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Yeah, it's very difficult to find one that actually performs.
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Okay.
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They have one of the worst reputations, I would say, of all types of URLs.
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Absolutely right.
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The pool industry is has been that way for years.
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They take on as many pulls as they can get, get their belly full, and then just who cares about the rest?
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It's true.
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That's basically how it is.
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You know, oh, my company can do about 30 pulls.
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When I get to about 27 or 28, I'm not even going to answer the phone anymore.
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Yeah.
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You know, it's not the case.
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We've changed the industry where I work.
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And it's it's year-round, day by day.
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Got great lead generation.
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You know, I treat a lead like it's gold.
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Every lead that I get, I treat like a piece of gold, uh, because that's how I feed my family.
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Uh and but it's just phenomenal how how technology has brought us the leads.
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Yeah.
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So listen, uh, like, I mean, that's a pretty big statement, actually, especially for anybody that's in business development or sales, right?
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Like, because not many people think of every lead like gold.
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They're usually they have preconceptions or they look into it a little bit and they just start ignoring it.
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Or if some, if they make a call, they don't call back and it doesn't turn into a contract immediately, they get disgruntled about and trash it, right?
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What's your perspective about that?
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So you're you're absolutely right.
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They don't look at it like that.
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I think what it goes back to when I first started getting leads, I got my lead by going out and knocking on a door, literally knock doors.
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And that's hard to do.
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But it's a great expensive.
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When someone gives you the time, you're gonna give it a hundred percent.
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It's gold.
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It became gold at that time.
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Every lead should be treated like gold.
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Uh they've they've welcomed you in.
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Yeah.
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You know, uh a customer walks on a car lot and you get eight salesmen say, Oh, they're just tire kicking.
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I've never looked at it like that.
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When I was in the car business, I said, you know what?
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I bet that man could think of a thousand things he'd rather be doing than out there wading through those cars.
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Yeah.
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So he's only there for one reason.
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It's to buy a new car.
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You know, let it be a hundred degrees and me not taking up.
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That's not gonna happen.
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Let it be 15 degrees and me not taking up.
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No, those are gold.
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Those are gold bars out there because those people have other things to do than to wait around looking who wants to go buy a car?
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Yeah.
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I actually wants to go do anything like this.
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I went to the grand opening, the Lewis Automotive Group when they did their new facility over there, and they were given a talk, and it was um, it was uh Shelby Lewis.
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Yeah.
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And Shelby's like, nobody wants to buy a car, likes the process of buying a car, guess except for Mark's wife.
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He loves that.
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Yeah, you do love it.
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Shelby Gold's because I bought about 35 or 40 cars from you know, and you do.
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There are a certain number of people, but you can tell them right off the bat, too.
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But they pull it in there into the trade-in lane already.
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They already know where to put it because we're gonna have it, uh it's gonna be a trade-in.
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Oh, we'll park it right here, so it's convenient.
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Yeah, but but Don, though, the other thing I noticed with Don.
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So anyway, he did sell us our pool, okay.
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But the thing I liked about Don is he didn't sugarcoat anything when it came to like, we're gonna have to get a check from you for$40 some odd thousand dollars.
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The moment you say go, you're gonna wire that too.
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No, I'm serious.
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That goes back to me.
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I learned this years ago.
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Own the money.
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I own the money.
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I own the money.
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So, what I mean by that is if it costs this much, I'm gonna tell you it costs this much.
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If you've got to pay this much down, I'm gonna tell you that's how much you got to pay down, when you're gonna pay it down, how you're gonna pay it down.
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I get some customers occasionally, halfway through the deal, say, Well, we're just gonna hold back a little.
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Whoa, that's not how we do it.
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Right.
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We don't do it.
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Because you've already told him five times in my experience, that that's what's gonna be owed at this time.
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That he doesn't just say it once.
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Yeah, he goes through it, he makes you sign it, it's gonna remind you repeatedly.
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Well, okay, and that's fine because that's the deal you signed up for.
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That's right.
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Well, I try to hide that.
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That's right.
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Don't sound like what you're doing is it's just setting expectations with your client.
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Exactly.
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And it doesn't just stop with just the money.
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You know, it's it's everything that goes along.
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Here's the way this process is gonna go.
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You know, they well, here's the way I look at a sale, and it and it's with just about anything.
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It's peaks and valleys, you know.
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When they're there buying the pool, you should have seen him and his wife are excited.
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I'm showing them a pool.
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Oh, that's the color.
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We'd love that color.
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That's beautiful.
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Man, they're they're up here.
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Yeah.
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Well, now then let's we're fixing start heading down because it's start talking about some money.
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You're gonna also send me a check.
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And let me tell you how we work.
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We send a check right now, you know.
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So, so it's gonna go like this.
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And then we ship the pool.
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Oh my goodness, things are going great.
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Uh man, our pool's gotten here.
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Well, everybody still, you know.
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So I walk them through everything about it.
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I feel like don't hide a thing.
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I tell the good, the bad, and the ugly all the way through a cell.
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And it means, okay, folks, there's three things that aren't included in this bid.
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You got to buy all your own electrical.
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Just know.
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You can't get a master electrician.
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So it's not like, well, no surprise.
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No surprises.
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I don't want the surprise.
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Homeowners don't want the surprise.
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Your clients don't want the surprise.
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Own the money.
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I hope I'm saying that right, but that's the way I look at it.
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It's not just the money, like you're what you're saying, not just the money coming to you, but their money as the customer, where else are you gonna have to put your money?
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Because that that's serious business, right?
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That's right.
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You know, and it feels like that.
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Um, if you're not setting those expectations correctly, you already know that it's that if you don't do that up front, it's gonna be a bomb on the back end.
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And I don't deal with bombs good on the back end.
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Yeah.
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You know, that's why it's that's that.
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You don't want to be in that position.
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I don't want to be in that position.
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Yeah, well, later, let's go back to the fact.
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I'm looking for a five-star.
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Right.
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Because do you know how strong that five-star is?
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So here's a real quick perspective.
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I do a data with the homeowner.
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So the lead comes in, I call the homeowner and I do a data with them.
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Well, I'm doing the data, I'm building a rapport, I'm getting answers, what they want, what their location is, and I'm building all this rapport with them.
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Uh I want to, I even asked people that don't buy from me, how did I do with that?
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Send me a five-star if you liked it.
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And I'll get five stars from people that have never even bought from me.
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They just talked to you.
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How did I do it?
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They just talked to me on the data, but I walked them through every single thing.
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I listened to them, I fulfilled what they needed from me.
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How much is it gonna be?
00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:58.000
What's it gonna cost?
00:12:58.159 --> 00:12:59.279
How much later?
00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:00.080
How long?
00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:01.360
How much maintenance?
00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:02.399
All these questions.
00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:06.480
So I'm building to have a five-star all the way through the situation.
00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:10.960
So don't get halfway through it and then just kind of fall on your face.
00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:12.960
I'm not looking at just the paycheck.
00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:16.639
I'm looking at a five-star because the five stars are paychecks.
00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:17.759
Am I right?
00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:18.639
Am I right?
00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:23.679
The thing with this guy is like I I call him up where I'm driving, I'm in Nebraska now.
00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:25.120
What are you doing there?
00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:26.000
I'm selling pools.
00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:27.120
What do you think I'm doing?
00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:29.360
Nebraska, for God's sake.
00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:36.480
I'll tell you, it was such a journey out there to Nebraska to sell a pool that we're gonna set up a pool company there.
00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:37.360
See, there you go.
00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:38.960
Because, and it's worth it.
00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:47.200
So I'm making contacts with people that are gonna be selling, they're gonna take the data, they're gonna do the pools, we're gonna do the pools.
00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:49.279
We don't have a problem going anywhere.
00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:51.440
We are set up to do anything.
00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:54.559
So uh I've got two sales to make.
00:13:54.639 --> 00:14:00.799
I had to make the sale with the customer, and uh hey, you know, get some information.
00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:02.480
I got a lot of information.
00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:06.240
The digging's great in Nebraska, it's excellent.
00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:09.360
Uh, it's spread out, you can get to the homes easy.
00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:12.639
It's a it's a great, and they have a need for our program.
00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:15.759
These guys are totally vertically integrated.
00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:20.720
So every single step of the way, their employ own employees and their own equipment.
00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:21.039
Yes.
00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:31.120
So they come in, they drag the pool in with their own equipment, they got cranes that are branded that put that out, they got dirt moving machines that are branded, they got water tanks that are branded.
00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:31.519
Nice.
00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:35.279
They're not waiting around for these other people to do services that can.
00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:37.279
Yeah, that's good.
00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:39.039
And that's a totally different deal.
00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:45.279
But so, Don, just to give people a perspective, like how many pools do you sell in a typical week or month?
00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:46.559
Oh my goodness.
00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:51.120
Uh lately I've been shooting for three pools a day, at least one day a week.
00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:52.799
Okay, now think about that.
00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:56.559
So three pools and I shoot for three pools a day.
00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:57.840
That's called a hat trick.
00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:01.279
You guys, if you're hockey players, you know what a hat trick is?
00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:03.759
So, you know, that's insane.
00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:08.240
And what it does is it builds everybody in the company up.
00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:12.879
Whenever they see me there on a Thursday, and I'm and and and here's another thing.
00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:19.919
Not only am I going over these data and stuff, I'll go set in the office and let the people around me hear me.
00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:22.399
And that way everybody's on the same page.
00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:24.960
But it also builds them up and they get excited.
00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:26.639
That's how they feed their family.
00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:40.000
So when I have them on my team and we have a phenomenal team, we have a phenomenal lead team, we have a phenomenal quote team, we have a phenomenal crews that go out and deliver, our delivery teams, unbelievable.
00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:43.120
Our crews that go out and do the digs are unbelievable.
00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:45.120
Our cleanup crew that comes out.
00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:47.120
Yep, Mark, you'll attest to that.
00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:47.600
Sure.
00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:53.759
And uh, when you sell an emotional product like a swimming pool, you're gonna need these team players.
00:15:54.480 --> 00:16:00.879
And all the way through it, when the lady called to say, hey, our guys will be out there to clean up your mess.
00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:03.679
She might have even mentioned a five-star when she did it.
00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:04.159
Oh, yeah.
00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:08.399
She might have said, Hey, hey, be sure and uh mention a five-star.
00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:10.000
Hey, be sure and mention a five-star.
00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:14.559
We want this to be that kind of a uh a purchase for you.
00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:14.799
Yeah.
00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:18.080
To where you're proud of it and you can say, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we loved it.
00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:19.279
Don was wonderful.
00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:20.240
I love that.
00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:22.480
The team is phenomenal.
00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:23.840
That's the best thing.
00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:28.320
Yeah, is when they say the team backs up everything they say they're gonna do.
00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:37.440
How many times, I mean, like, how many businesses you think do swimming pools where, like in my wife's case, like, we I need to send Don a thank you letter.
00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:38.080
Oh, wow.
00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:39.519
Yeah, you know what I mean?
00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:41.200
Yeah, it's like it you just don't.
00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:47.039
When you're so happy as a customer that you want to help the people in the company, exactly.
00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:50.159
And I was in my told somebody else and he sold them a pool.
00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:51.200
Or he sold, yes.
00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:52.240
I gotta buy your lunch.
00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:52.879
Yes, yeah.
00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:56.960
I mean, it's like we already did send me a gift card for God's sakes.
00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:01.360
I mean you your customers are excellent.
00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:03.840
Okay, so that's another thing in sales.
00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:06.720
You're always looking for them to refer to you to somebody.
00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:08.480
There's not an easier sell.
00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:12.880
Two sales this weekend, both referrals.
00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:14.640
I got to tell y'all this story.
00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:19.440
As any salesman out there listening to this podcast, I want you to know this.
00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:23.440
We had a customer, he had an emotional pool build.
00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:28.480
Uh, he's just an emotional guy, but a super good guy, way over in Kansas.
00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:34.000
And he says uh every time he would call the office, it was, oh my gosh, it's Russ.
00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:35.680
Oh my gosh, it's Russ.
00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:39.599
But me, if he called my number, I'm like, hey, Russ, what can I do for you?
00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:41.599
But he was a he was a nightmare.
00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:43.519
He was a nightmare for most people.
00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:45.279
Hey, Russ, what do you know?
00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:50.319
Hey, Don, I'm gonna give you a he gave me two leads last week and I sold them both.
00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:56.240
You know, taking that phone call could be for any reason whatsoever.
00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:01.759
It could be for, you know, wish somebody to come out and adjust my auto cover.
00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:03.200
Not a problem, Russ.
00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:04.559
We'll get somebody out there.
00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:11.359
Or, hey, Don, I got two guys that want to buy pulls, you know, and they're they're automatic sales.
00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:12.000
Oh, yeah.
00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:13.920
Whenever they know, they know Rust.
00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:16.160
Yeah, they know everybody already knows Russ.
00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:20.640
So they're like, if Don sold Russ, he could sell anybody, right?
00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:25.119
Take me because you can sell anybody, yeah.
00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:27.680
No, let me ask you a question for the listeners out there.
00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:28.960
What what are your hours?
00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:30.960
Are you do you come into work at nine?
00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:34.960
Are you do you need are you taking an hour and a half lines?
00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:36.559
Do you want to get off at four?
00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:40.880
And then obviously at four o'clock without a he's got a horse farm.
00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:42.720
He's got a lot to do, right?
00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:50.079
You don't want yourself to be too pressured in your life, you know, for these sales, you know, that that really the the company is taking.
00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:58.480
Contrary to what my wife loves, I eat, breathe, and sleep self-hell yeah.
00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:08.000
You know, so I'm just gonna tell you, 5 30 in the morning is about when I feel comfortable about looking at what I've had to deal with.
00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:13.519
And uh I typically don't start in on people till about seven.
00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:16.079
Sometimes 6 45.
00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:16.640
I don't know.
00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:18.160
Mark may contradict me.
00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:19.039
I get up early.
00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:22.000
Here's the thing, I don't know every day.
00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:26.079
And you know, I do turn in early.
00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:29.680
I'm not gonna lie to you, about 8:30 or 9, I turn in.
00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:33.680
But whatever came through at 8:30 or 9, I'm dealing with first thing in the morning.
00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:36.160
Uh, you're never off work as a salesman.
00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:37.359
You're never off work.
00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:55.759
I think uh one of the beautiful things that that is so awesome about working for home pro is I don't have to do the bookkeeping, I don't have to do the taxes, I don't have to do the mopping the floor.
00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:56.720
Well, you've done all that.
00:19:57.519 --> 00:19:58.400
Oh I've done it all.
00:19:58.640 --> 00:19:59.759
So that's the case.
00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:02.079
I've always had to do all of it.
00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:03.599
I wore all the hats.
00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:03.920
Yeah.
00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:13.839
And the beautiful thing about working for HomePro is we've got such a team that puts together and builds such a phenomenal business.
00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:18.640
It just keeps, and I'm gonna use y'all's modern day word, scaling.
00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:23.920
Yeah, and I believe that's the correct word, but it's just going up and up and up.
00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:26.799
And uh it's opened it up for me.
00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:27.519
You know what?
00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:39.440
I'm the salesman, but I also find that when I walk these things through, meaning just like he said, hey, Dawn, they delivered the pull today, but where are they gonna put the gravel?
00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:42.079
Hey, let me find out where they're gonna put the gravel.
00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:43.039
I walk it through.
00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:45.279
I wear every cell on my shoulders.
00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:46.400
You do, all the way through.
00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:53.039
I can testify all the way through it, and uh sometimes it gets heavy, but never too heavy for me.
00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:57.519
Like I tell you, it's never it's never gonna be too heavy for me.
00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:00.559
Uh what's the uh so you get tired?
00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:01.839
Do you ever get tired, Don?
00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:04.000
Yes, I do get tired.
00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:07.200
But so what pushes you through the the tiredness?
00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:10.000
I never get tired of selling.
00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:11.920
I never get tired of selling.
00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:20.079
So it's it's if I was to get tired, if I was to get tired, I would probably start rehashing and rehashing.
00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:22.480
That's another big point that I want to make.
00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:23.599
What do you mean by that?
00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:31.200
So to rehash is we've all got a pipeline, uh, and and people use that word loosely.
00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:32.960
I don't use that word loosely.
00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:41.680
It's a pipeline and it better be packed at all times because it's got to be spilling out fund tickets or money or whatever you guys want to call it.
00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:44.960
But my pipeline has got to be spilling fun tickets out.
00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:48.720
And if it's not, you're gonna have a gap in it.
00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:59.599
And as a salesman speaking to other companies and people that want to be in sales, just know that gap is just not a two foot gap, it's a four foot gap.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:04.480
Because you got to build it back up to get it to start pushing the fund tickets back out.
00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:14.319
So I would say rehash to answer your question on rehash, rehash is going back to your pipeline and even your previous customers.
00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:16.880
Anything you've got in there.
00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:28.079
You know, I'll pull up, I think I had like 600 uh leads, probably more than that, but 600 leads in the last year.
00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:32.000
You know, believe me, I can go through those and start calling them.
00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:39.279
Whenever I've got some time, I'll just start calling those leads and saying, hey, are you still interested in the pool?
00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:41.920
I'll just are you still interested in a pull?
00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:43.119
And just drop it at that.
00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:45.599
And these are just like a hundred thousand dollar jobs.
00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:49.680
Just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:51.599
Yeah, you've got to do them like that.
00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:59.839
Uh I wanted to sell jets, uh, but when they said the average close takes seven years, oh my goodness.
00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:01.920
That's a long cycle.
00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:03.920
So have y'all ever heard that?
00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:07.839
Yeah, the average the average close on a jet takes seven years.
00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:10.319
We were speaking of jets earlier, but uh that's crazy.
00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:16.640
So, Don, tell these guys a little bit about how you grew up and some of the other things that you did.
00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:17.680
So just start out.
00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:21.920
When you were a kid, were you like selling stuff on the street corner or what were you?
00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:23.599
Well, it's kind of funny you asked that.
00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:26.000
So I knew that question was probably gonna come up.
00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:29.519
My first sales experience was I was about six years old.
00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:34.079
My dad would go down to uh South Arkansas and buy a truckload of watermelons.
00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:46.000
And I would sell them in the trader parks, and I would sell them in the trader parks because dad, it was so simple just to drive through a trader park, and I'd get out and go to the doors and sell the watermelons.
00:23:46.799 --> 00:24:04.480
And uh, literally, and I'd be carrying those watermelons up to the door, and I would do it with such enthusiasm that they would they would have to buy, you know, and I I really think he was buying them for 50 cents, and I might have been selling them for a dollar, yeah, or maybe two.
00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:07.039
I I doubt if it was two, but probably a dollar back then.
00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:10.240
So you know now when I go to pay ten dollars for a watermelon house.
00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:13.119
I know it's oh I try to get live.
00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:14.799
I know, I'm with you.
00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:16.559
I can't believe it costs what it does.
00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:22.640
So I did start selling door to door at an early age, and I rejection's never been a big deal.
00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:23.599
Uh look at me.
00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:29.359
I mean, you know, I've been I I I never really uh minded rejection.
00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:31.440
I was a very persistent person.
00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:40.559
Uh so I did start selling at an early age, just out of high school, the summer out of high school, I was one of those kids that sold magazines door to door.
00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:44.559
Most people's uh family wouldn't dare let you answer that ad.
00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:48.720
Travel the United States, Florida, California, Hawaii.
00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:56.000
I answered it, and they sweep me off to Dallas and start putting me out of a car selling door-to-door magazines.
00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:00.559
Well, so selling door-to-door magazines, you learn a lot of rejection.
00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:01.119
Oh, yeah.
00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:07.920
You know, but one thing I did learn is when that door says no soliciting, cha-ching.
00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:10.079
There's a reason that's on there.
00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:14.799
That no soliciting means I buy from everybody that comes to the door.
00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:18.319
Am I right?
00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:19.519
Am I right, fellas?
00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:22.400
You know, they they they put their guard up.
00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:22.720
Yeah.
00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:30.079
Uh so anyway, I went from there, I went into the car business uh a little later in years after a little stint in college there.
00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:31.680
I went to the car business.
00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:35.680
And in the car business, uh, I wanted to be the best.
00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:39.599
So what I did is I paid attention to the guys that were the most successful.
00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:40.480
What do they say?
00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:41.440
How do they act?
00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:42.640
Where do they go?
00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:43.680
What do they do?
00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:50.160
And to be the best and to be the top of the list, you got to take every up you can possibly take and give it 100%.
00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:52.960
There's not a tire kicker out there.
00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:56.559
There's not a, they're they're upside down in their trade.
00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:58.640
You got to give everybody 100%.
00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:01.279
And what you do is you ask key questions.
00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:04.000
So I developed my own way of selling.
00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:05.839
Hey folks, how are y'all doing today?
00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:07.119
You gonna buy a car?
00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:13.279
The leading question opens with a call a 10 question, right?
00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:14.640
And then I just shut up.
00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:15.759
The test closed.
00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:17.359
And then I just shut up.
00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:18.720
Y'all gonna buy a car?
00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:21.359
And they would be like, Yeah.
00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:24.079
Well, we're just looking for the daughter.
00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:27.200
She's fixing to turn 16, and we're gonna get a car for her.
00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:28.240
Great, great.
00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:31.119
Well, you know, looking at that car is the first stage of buying one.
00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:34.160
So let's just go from there.
00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:37.119
So, so in the car business, that's kind of how that went.
00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:41.759
But he came to me while I was in the car business that I sell siding, siding and windows.
00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:42.559
Oh, really great.
00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:45.839
He said, Yeah, you know what, you'd make a tremendous sales money.
00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:47.519
Would you knock doors for me?
00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:58.160
So I was knocking doors for a guy a year younger than me that's driving a fancy rig, putting me out on doors, and I'm just knocking happy as I could be.
00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:05.039
Because I made a good, I made a thousand dollars for every deal that he closed.
00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:07.519
So I'm knocking on them doors.
00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:13.519
Well, learning in the in the in the magazine business, and I learned numbers.
00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:17.440
Something that's very important for any self-always keep your numbers.
00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:19.599
The activity precedes the results.
00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:21.759
Activity precedes the results.
00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:33.119
I'd love if we've got a minute, I'd love to tell the story about the kid that uh his dad put him out selling selling newspapers on the on the block there in the city and said, Son, I got you a job.
00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:34.000
Here's what you're gonna do.
00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:37.200
You're gonna go out and sell subscriptions of of these newspapers.
00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:44.799
And and the kid, he puts him out and the kid's knocked on about four doors, and and he's just sat down on the curb, and his dad comes back like an hour later.
00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:45.839
What's the matter, son?
00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:48.720
Oh, every one of them slammed the door in my face, dad.
00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:52.559
And he said, Well, son, don't worry, I've got a secret for you.
00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:58.000
Here's the secret don't tell everybody, just use it and live by it.
00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:02.799
He said, For every 30 doors you knock, someone buys.
00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:08.480
And the kid says, Huh, for every 30 doors I knock, someone buys?
00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:10.720
So the kid's running from door to door.
00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:11.759
Hey, you interesting?
00:28:11.839 --> 00:28:12.720
Hey, hey, you're interested.
00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:16.319
He's got such enthusiasm that he's selling.
00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:18.799
I look at that, been using it all my life.
00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:19.119
Yes.
00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:22.880
So anything that I do, I take the numbers.
00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:24.960
Man, you've got 200 leads.
00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:28.400
Well, out of 200 leads, you got to send 42 quotes.
00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:32.480
Well, out of 42 quotes, you actually closed 10 people.
00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:34.079
Man, that's pretty good.
00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:35.440
You know, that's good numbers.
00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:37.039
So now you've got a barometer.
00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:38.799
You've got some way to measure that.
00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:42.160
So that's that's the way I look at it.
00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:46.240
To keep numbers and uh so you did the sighting.
00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:47.119
So I did the sighting.
00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:47.599
So we know.
00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:50.000
Why'd you leave the car business in the first place?
00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:56.480
Because you go from this level, which topped out as a car salesman, you're gonna make about 30 grand.
00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:00.160
And uh this kid, here's here's how I quit at that time.
00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:01.920
This is I'm an old man, folks.
00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:12.319
But at that time, and whenever the the kid that was a year younger than me that I grew up with, one of my best friends, came in and bought a car from me and said, You'll make good money.
00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:13.599
I said, Well, prove it.
00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:15.759
Go get your 1099 or your W-2.
00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:18.559
The next day he brings it in at 74 grand.
00:29:19.039 --> 00:29:19.599
Yeah.
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:21.039
Said, hey, Mr.
00:29:21.200 --> 00:29:24.880
Cliff Tech, I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna be selling cars anymore.
00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:28.240
Okay, and it just kind of went from there.
00:29:28.480 --> 00:29:36.559
So, so I sold siding for years and uh started my own siding company, sold lots of siding and windows for years and years and years.
00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:43.680
Got this uh another partner, we got this bright idea, go down to Dallas and we see these big fiberglass pools on the side of the road.
00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:44.240
Yeah.
00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:46.960
Man, that looks pretty cool.
00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:51.920
We come into the fiberglass pool business about 20, it was late 90s.
00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:59.599
We started putting fiberglass pools in down here in uh Fort Smith area, and uh kind of went from there.
00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:01.680
I got a really good break.
00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:05.200
People started calling saying, Can you put that in my old gun out broken pool?
00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:08.000
And I said, Yeah, I can do that.
00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:17.359
So that worked a couple times, and then I uh developed a process of where you could go in and hand lay a fiberglass shell inside of a gunite pool.
00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:17.759
Oh, really?
00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:25.920
So if you've got an old gun out pool that's just beat up and got cracks in it, and there's nothing you can do at the cracked pool, but hand lay a fiberglass shell in there.
00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:28.480
So that was my big break.
00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:34.079
I sold that process uh because man, that's hot, tough work right there.
00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:36.079
I like being a salesman versus it.
00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:36.640
I love you.
00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:39.279
Told me you sold the first one of those three you ever did one.
00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:41.039
No, they did your own pool.
00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:41.759
I did my own.
00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:54.079
I did my own pool, made a mess all over the uh sidewalk, which was a break for my little brother because he started uh uh a concrete coating company kind of based off of that.
00:30:54.559 --> 00:30:55.920
He fixed the concrete.
00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:58.000
Yeah, so so it's all good.
00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:02.160
So I went and sold one, got that guy's money down, did my pull.
00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:05.839
I'm thinking I got enough to do his pull, and I get there and catch a big surprise.
00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:07.359
I gotta order a bunch of concrete.
00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:10.400
So I got to go sell another one to get his pull to go.
00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:13.200
But yeah, that was a that was a great business.
00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:22.000
Uh you've got some guidelines when you go fiberglassing in the neighborhood and they can smell the uh, I call it money, but they smell the fiberglass, you know.
00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:24.720
When they smell the fiberglass and everything, neighbors complain.
00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:27.599
Yeah, but but that's because they can smell the fiberglass?
00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:32.079
Oh, well, you know, it just smells like a major chemical plant, you know, next door.
00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:33.599
They don't own a pool.
00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:36.079
They wonder what in the world they're doing over there.
00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:47.200
Yeah, you know, so uh, but but I came out real good on that and uh actually thought about coming up to where I live now.
00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:51.200
Uh my wife wants to move up into Oklahoma here and be closer to her dad.
00:31:51.359 --> 00:31:55.039
And I'm thinking, you know, I'll open a motorcycle shop on Route 66.
00:31:55.279 --> 00:31:56.160
That'll be beautiful.
00:31:56.240 --> 00:31:58.960
I'll build bikes, sell bikes, and enjoy my life.
00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:02.000
And uh and I bonded over cars and bikes.
00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:03.119
Cars and bikes.
00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:03.920
Oh, yeah, sure.
00:32:04.079 --> 00:32:05.519
Yeah, a lot of a lot of those.
00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:10.079
So then I find, man, the property there is just outrageous, right there on Route 66.
00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:21.839
And uh I'm watching the TV, and there's a man comes on there every day and talks about his sighting and window company, and then he comes on the next morning and says, We're a uh fiberglass pool dealer.
00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:25.599
So I said, Honey, I'm gonna go down down here to Joplin and get me a job.
00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:26.960
What?
00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:29.680
I'm like, Yeah, I'm gonna go sell something for this guy.
00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:32.480
And sure enough, it's been it's been great ever since.
00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:34.400
What year was how long you've been doing this?
00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:35.920
That's probably about five years ago.
00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:36.640
Yeah, yeah.
00:32:37.039 --> 00:32:38.799
Now you did build choppers and stuff.
00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:40.640
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:32:41.039 --> 00:32:41.599
I did that.
00:32:41.680 --> 00:32:42.720
That was a lot of fun.
00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:45.440
Didn't make you a lot of money, but you had a lot of toys.
00:32:45.519 --> 00:32:45.839
Yeah.
00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:47.359
Uh, it was a lot of fun.
00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:52.000
And you know, it's I'm always gonna love bikes and cars.
00:32:52.240 --> 00:32:53.039
So I get it.
00:32:53.119 --> 00:32:56.160
That's try to get away from it sometimes, but I always come back.
00:32:56.400 --> 00:32:58.079
You're always gonna kind of come back to it.
00:32:58.480 --> 00:33:02.559
But uh, I tell you what I have found with the company that I'm with now.
00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:11.599
My free time is how to build, how to build, how to build this business, you know, just build, build, build.
00:33:11.839 --> 00:33:16.319
Uh the owner of Home Pro Pools is phenomenal.
00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:22.079
He has got uh a mind that's going 10 times faster than my mind.
00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:29.039
This guy is building, building, building, business, business, business, teams, teams, teams.
00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:29.440
Yeah.
00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:36.640
Uh I was just sitting in here and heard the gentleman come out and tell the young man, hey, add two more things to the checklist.
00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:38.000
I thought I'm back at work.
00:33:38.319 --> 00:33:41.279
You know, so always something to make it better.
00:33:41.440 --> 00:33:41.680
Yeah.
00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:42.079
Yeah.
00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:46.240
And it's and it what I where I was going with that, that's fun to me.
00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:48.480
That's fun to me to grow this stuff.
00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:50.000
He's lucky that he has you.
00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:52.960
I mean, you have been pivotal, but he is that way.
00:33:53.039 --> 00:33:53.599
I met him.
00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:55.039
He came out to my job site.
00:33:55.200 --> 00:34:06.400
I mean, even a company with the business these guys are doing, he comes down from Joplin to my job site to figure out the ideal place to put this pool because we had some questions and concerns.
00:34:06.480 --> 00:34:07.680
And I was impressed with that.
00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:08.159
Oh, yeah.
00:34:08.480 --> 00:34:12.480
And I heard about the story about how we got into the business, and it was pretty interesting.
00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:12.800
Yeah.
00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:16.880
Basically doing stuff that the company he worked for didn't want to do.
00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:17.119
Yeah.
00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:20.000
So he sets up a company to do the stuff they don't.
00:34:20.239 --> 00:34:22.320
He's working for a major national home builder.
00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:22.719
Yeah.
00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:29.920
And they're punching these houses out, but they don't want to build the fences and put the gutters on and do the shutters or whatever.
00:34:30.159 --> 00:34:33.519
So he sets up a separate entity just to do that for them.
00:34:33.679 --> 00:34:33.840
Yeah.
00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:34.960
And that's where it's.
00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:36.400
Yeah, he's a master of mine.
00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:38.079
And it's and it's so awesome.
00:34:38.239 --> 00:34:47.519
And and I've I've walked in those footsteps, not at his level, obviously, but I've walked in those footsteps and it makes it so much easier for us to kind of come together.
00:34:47.679 --> 00:34:50.960
And and we have Build a Business Day every Thursday.
00:34:51.119 --> 00:34:57.679
It's it's a it's a phenomenal idea that whenever I come in with this company, I'm like, every Thursday, build a business.
00:34:57.840 --> 00:34:59.199
We have vendors come in.
00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:02.239
We have the bankers, of course, and whoever else.
00:35:02.320 --> 00:35:09.119
Uh, if a person's buying a pool from us and they want to come in, uh, we have a chef cook cooks lunch for us and everything.
00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:15.199
You know, uh, anytime your company feeds you, that's gonna be a good day.
00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:16.639
You know, exactly.
00:35:17.199 --> 00:35:18.800
We're gonna put some minds together.
00:35:18.960 --> 00:35:22.639
So, you know, we we build a business day, and I I would recommend it.
00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:23.840
And every week you do that.
00:35:24.480 --> 00:35:27.119
And you just spend it on the business and how to build the business.
00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:32.159
That's what, well, I'd like to say we just spend it on that, but that's that's what the focus is.
00:35:32.400 --> 00:35:42.639
Of course, we've still got our other duties and deeds to do that day, but uh pretty much build a business, and I would encourage any small business to do that.
00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:43.519
So what do they do?
00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:46.239
You just the whole team comes together, eats.
00:35:46.639 --> 00:35:49.679
The whole team comes together and has meetings early in the morning.
00:35:49.760 --> 00:35:52.400
If it's with the lead generator, we have the lead meetings.
00:35:52.480 --> 00:35:54.719
If it's with marketing, we have marketing meetings.
00:35:54.880 --> 00:35:57.760
If it's with uh sales, we have sales meetings.
00:35:57.920 --> 00:36:00.800
Uh it's all getting on the same page.
00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:05.840
You know, nowadays you are working off of uh, what do you call it?
00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:09.679
Every Zoho, what are the uh high levels CRMs?
00:36:09.760 --> 00:36:11.599
That's sure that's the I'm old school.
00:36:11.760 --> 00:36:13.119
You gotta forgive me.
00:36:13.360 --> 00:36:21.119
So the uh the CRMs, you know, we we help the old guy out with his how to get through his CRM and stuff like that.
00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:24.400
So it's always uh it's it's excellent.
00:36:24.559 --> 00:36:27.119
It gets everybody together talking about the same thing.
00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:30.320
If you have something to talk about, you're gonna be able to talk about it.
00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:34.719
Yeah, but you don't feel like that's an imposition on you and slows down your selling.
00:36:34.960 --> 00:36:37.440
No, it's not an imposition on me.
00:36:37.599 --> 00:36:40.320
I uh to have to spend that day doing that.
00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:41.679
Well, that day does.
00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:43.760
That day, it gets caught up.
00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:44.800
I'll catch it up.
00:36:44.880 --> 00:36:45.519
I sure could.
00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:48.000
Yeah, because you always so I always sell.
00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:50.880
I do not have a nine to five.
00:36:51.119 --> 00:36:55.519
I'm just gonna tell you, to answer your question earlier, no, I don't have a nine to five.
00:36:55.679 --> 00:36:59.119
What do you think the worst mistake a salesperson could make?
00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:00.719
Not listening.
00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:05.119
Not listening would probably be to who?
00:37:05.679 --> 00:37:08.400
To the to the client, whoever they're trying to sell to.
00:37:08.480 --> 00:37:10.320
Yeah, not listening.
00:37:10.480 --> 00:37:15.199
Uh I always say God gave us two ears and one mouth.
00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:15.519
Yeah.
00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:21.519
Listen twice as much as you speak, you know, and I think listening is the key to success.
00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:22.239
I really do.
00:37:22.559 --> 00:37:29.599
So you're obviously like as much experience as you have in pools before home pro, and then obviously the home pro for five years.
00:37:30.079 --> 00:37:34.000
You obviously know your product, you know all the things that need to be done.
00:37:34.159 --> 00:37:35.760
You can answer any question.
00:37:36.400 --> 00:37:41.599
But you're but when you go to a client, you don't come to the table with all the answers.
00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:42.239
No.
00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:43.199
What are you doing?
00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:45.119
No, you want to keep it simple.
00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:47.199
You do want to keep it simple.
00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:49.440
You want to listen to what their needs are.
00:37:49.679 --> 00:37:56.159
You want to hear, you got grandkids, you got kids, you got two kids, you got three kids, you know how big a pull you're thinking.
00:37:56.480 --> 00:37:58.880
You know, there's key questions you want to ask them.
00:37:59.039 --> 00:38:01.760
Uh I never know all the answers.
00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:05.039
But I'll tell you a key thing that a good salesman will do.
00:38:05.199 --> 00:38:09.039
If he doesn't know the answer, just say, I don't know the answer, but I'll find out.
00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:09.519
Yeah.
00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:11.599
That's that's very, very important.
00:38:11.840 --> 00:38:15.199
And then when you go find out you, then you what do you do then?
00:38:15.280 --> 00:38:17.199
You go talk to who to find out the answer.
00:38:17.599 --> 00:38:19.039
Well, whoever it pertains to.
00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:19.360
Yeah.
00:38:19.519 --> 00:38:23.840
So whenever they say, do the uh the new deck jets have lights on them?
00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:25.360
Well, that's a new thing.
00:38:25.599 --> 00:38:27.679
Our new deck jets have lights on them.
00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:32.000
I'm not sure how that goes about, but let me go talk to the guys that install those.
00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:42.639
You know, I think I'm kind of leading the the question here because I in in sales in my brain, I'm thinking salesperson is is to listen, build a relationship and the trust, right?
00:38:42.719 --> 00:38:43.840
And advise.
00:38:44.079 --> 00:38:47.280
But the lean on your internal team, they're the experts.
00:38:47.760 --> 00:38:54.719
And then you brought up another one, your vendors or your partners that you're working with that are manufacturing, yes, they're the experts.
00:38:54.960 --> 00:39:05.280
The salesperson's job is to go get to hear, go ask the right question, get all the details that they don't know about, your customer, aggregate all that together, and then follow up.
00:39:05.440 --> 00:39:06.159
You're the messenger.
00:39:06.480 --> 00:39:06.960
You're the messenger.
00:39:07.599 --> 00:39:13.280
You've got to get it to the and uh that's that's that relationship you have with them.
00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:18.400
You know, I've got their money and we're starting their job.
00:39:18.719 --> 00:39:24.320
And I know typically we dig their hole one day and we set their pool the next day.
00:39:24.639 --> 00:39:28.719
So I a lot of times I call them and say, Hey, y'all got anything going out there?
00:39:28.880 --> 00:39:31.119
Oh, yeah, we got a big hole in our backyard.
00:39:31.280 --> 00:39:33.920
And I'm like, Great, boy, things are moving along.
00:39:34.079 --> 00:39:35.920
I call them the next day.
00:39:36.320 --> 00:39:39.599
Oh my goodness, Dawn, I can't believe this.
00:39:39.760 --> 00:39:43.360
There's a pool out there full of water the next day.
00:39:43.760 --> 00:39:51.039
You know, these are these are times for them to tell me anything that I need to know about what can go better or worse.
00:39:51.199 --> 00:39:55.119
Or mostly it's to catch their enthusiasm.
00:39:55.599 --> 00:39:57.840
That's what gives me enthusiasm.
00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:00.960
Uh, you know, there's nothing like making a couple of those calls.
00:40:01.119 --> 00:40:03.360
Thank goodness for this uh car play.
00:40:03.599 --> 00:40:11.039
You know, I'm just you know how I'm I'm jetting around everywhere and I'm just making calls all day, all day, every day, you know.
00:40:11.280 --> 00:40:18.880
Um and I'm making those calls because when I get off the phone with unbelievable Don, it's awesome.
00:40:20.480 --> 00:40:21.280
Hello, Mr.
00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:22.239
Fitzgerald.
00:40:22.719 --> 00:40:24.320
You'd inquired about a pool.
00:40:24.400 --> 00:40:28.079
Have you got all the information you needed on that quote that we sent you?
00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:31.679
I'm just so much I it it's it's it's upbeat.
00:40:31.760 --> 00:40:34.800
It brings me back to man, I better sell a couple more of these.
00:40:35.039 --> 00:40:36.480
Those are some happy people.
00:40:36.719 --> 00:40:40.719
You know what do you do though when things go wrong?
00:40:40.880 --> 00:40:43.679
I mean, obviously there's times that stuff goes awry.
00:40:43.760 --> 00:40:45.599
It's not within your control, clearly.
00:40:45.760 --> 00:40:52.079
You're not the guys doing it, but somebody calls you up and they just curse you up one side and down the other.
00:40:52.239 --> 00:40:52.480
Yes.
00:40:52.639 --> 00:40:54.320
What I mean, I know it's gotta happen.
00:40:54.480 --> 00:40:54.800
It does.
00:40:55.039 --> 00:40:56.079
How do you deal with that?
00:40:56.400 --> 00:41:06.320
So I put myself in their position, first of all, and I try to understand what they're complaining about, and I try to do whatever it's gonna take to make it go.
00:41:06.559 --> 00:41:09.119
I let them get in my position sometimes.
00:41:09.519 --> 00:41:14.159
I'll explain, like I was saying a while ago, this is an emotional situation.
00:41:14.480 --> 00:41:20.320
You know, I had a I had a customer, husband called and said, it's phenomenal.
00:41:20.480 --> 00:41:27.039
We actually put their pool in, poured the concrete, dug it, set the pool, poured the concrete in one day.
00:41:27.440 --> 00:41:28.400
In one day.
00:41:28.880 --> 00:41:29.440
Insane.
00:41:29.599 --> 00:41:31.280
They already had their electrical hooked up.
00:41:31.440 --> 00:41:32.800
These people got a pull.
00:41:33.119 --> 00:41:35.360
So he's blown away.
00:41:35.440 --> 00:41:42.639
He's a big uh construction manager out of California, flies in and out, and uh he's like, I've never seen anything like it.
00:41:42.719 --> 00:41:44.559
It's unbelievable, phenomenal.
00:41:44.960 --> 00:41:50.239
His wife calls me, she says, I'm gonna give you a five-star, everything's great.
00:41:50.639 --> 00:42:02.320
It comes about a Friday, and I walk in, and my secretary says, Um, Miss So-and-so is on the phone yelling, attorney, and she wants us to come and pull the pool out of the ground.
00:42:02.480 --> 00:42:02.880
Oh, wow.
00:42:03.039 --> 00:42:06.239
And I'm like, Oh my gosh, you gotta be kidding me.
00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:09.760
So I call her up, and here's what it all boiled down to.
00:42:10.400 --> 00:42:18.320
We had got the pool put in in one day, but our cleaning crew to come and clean up the mess, the dirty water, and blah, blah, blah, wasn't there.
00:42:18.480 --> 00:42:25.119
And she had already told her daughter, sixth grader, have your friend come over this weekend, y'all can go swimming.
00:42:25.519 --> 00:42:26.480
That's emotional.
00:42:26.639 --> 00:42:28.320
Yeah, that's emotional.
00:42:28.559 --> 00:42:30.000
She's just blown away.
00:42:30.079 --> 00:42:32.239
We haven't got somebody out there to clean that pool.
00:42:32.400 --> 00:42:34.880
Needless to say, I got someone out there to clean the pool.
00:42:35.039 --> 00:42:37.840
She had a great weekend and I got a five-star out of it.
00:42:38.159 --> 00:42:39.679
But that's what you got to do.
00:42:39.760 --> 00:42:45.119
You just got to put them in that position and let them know, hey, folks, this is a this can be emotional.
00:42:45.280 --> 00:42:45.519
Sure.
00:42:45.679 --> 00:42:46.400
This can be.
00:42:46.559 --> 00:42:54.800
But a lot of times, I'm gonna tell you, a lot of times, it's not that they're having those emotions towards you.
00:42:54.960 --> 00:42:55.199
Yeah.
00:42:55.360 --> 00:42:55.679
Right.
00:42:55.840 --> 00:43:02.880
They could be, we just got a diagnosis, or we promised the kid's birthday party with her there.
00:43:03.199 --> 00:43:13.039
I didn't know about the birthday party, and I don't know that I could have done anything about the birthday party, but you leave yourself open-ended where you're not saying, guarantee it'll be in by August 15th.
00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:13.679
Yeah.
00:43:13.920 --> 00:43:15.519
You know, you just can't do that.
00:43:15.840 --> 00:43:16.079
Yeah.
00:43:16.239 --> 00:43:17.599
And you say that to them too.
00:43:17.760 --> 00:43:18.880
Yeah, and I do, don't I?
00:43:20.480 --> 00:43:22.559
I say, you know, we're gonna ship it out there.
00:43:22.719 --> 00:43:28.480
Uh, I ship all the equipment because I want these guys to be ready to get on it whenever they can get on it.
00:43:28.639 --> 00:43:31.440
But I don't, I try not to promise anything like that.
00:43:31.599 --> 00:43:34.960
So, you know, the the train wreck, that's what I call it.
00:43:35.039 --> 00:43:37.760
A train, the train wreck is never as bad as you think it's gonna be.
00:43:37.920 --> 00:43:38.079
Yeah.
00:43:38.480 --> 00:43:39.440
It it really isn't.
00:43:39.599 --> 00:43:44.000
And it's it's usually an outside entity that's caused them to have this fit.
00:43:44.239 --> 00:43:46.800
You just gotta figure out what's that one trigger, right?
00:43:46.960 --> 00:43:48.639
That's really driving that.
00:43:48.880 --> 00:43:50.639
And and here's what they want.
00:43:50.800 --> 00:43:55.360
And here's why my train wrecks don't last and last and last.
00:43:56.000 --> 00:43:58.880
It's because I take that call.
00:43:59.119 --> 00:43:59.519
I take
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:00.480
That call.
00:44:00.639 --> 00:44:01.760
Yeah, and that's the case.
00:44:01.920 --> 00:44:05.840
And then I may be calling them, I may not have the answer for them at 305.
00:44:06.159 --> 00:44:06.800
But you know what?
00:44:06.880 --> 00:44:11.599
I may call them at 7:30 that night when I got the answer and say, hey, thanks for bearing with me.
00:44:11.760 --> 00:44:12.639
I've got the answer.
00:44:13.440 --> 00:44:15.920
And here's what we're going to do to make that better.
00:44:16.400 --> 00:44:16.960
You know?
00:44:17.280 --> 00:44:21.039
So it's it's just it's all about communication at that point.
00:44:21.280 --> 00:44:28.960
So there's so many things in the whole sales as being a good salesman that I think that a person really has to pay attention to.
00:44:29.199 --> 00:44:32.559
You know, I've been around a thousand salesmen in my life.
00:44:32.719 --> 00:44:35.119
And a lot of salesmen are just order takers.
00:44:35.280 --> 00:44:38.719
A lot of salesmen are just cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching.
00:44:38.880 --> 00:44:40.639
They don't care to have a follow-up.
00:44:40.719 --> 00:44:43.679
They don't care what that customer does from that point on.
00:44:43.920 --> 00:44:46.639
I really truly want them to be my friend.
00:44:46.800 --> 00:44:49.840
Yeah, that's the transactional salesperson you're talking about.
00:44:50.159 --> 00:44:51.280
Versus the relationship.
00:44:51.519 --> 00:44:51.920
Yes.
00:44:52.079 --> 00:44:55.440
And, you know, trust is everything.
00:44:55.760 --> 00:45:06.880
So, you know, whenever you care about them before you've ever gave them a quote, and you've let them know, hey, listen, I'm going to tell you right now, that pool's not going to just cost you what I'm telling you it's going to cost you.
00:45:07.039 --> 00:45:09.679
It's also going to be electrical's got to be hooked up to it.
00:45:09.840 --> 00:45:11.760
You've got to think about some landscaping.
00:45:11.920 --> 00:45:15.360
We're not going to leave it perfectly solid and everything.
00:45:15.519 --> 00:45:18.320
And I tell them these things, and you know what that does.
00:45:18.480 --> 00:45:18.880
Yeah.
00:45:19.760 --> 00:45:20.880
It's right comparison.
00:45:21.360 --> 00:45:21.760
Thank you.
00:45:21.920 --> 00:45:22.320
Thank you.
00:45:22.639 --> 00:45:23.039
Trust.
00:45:23.199 --> 00:45:23.519
Yeah.
00:45:23.679 --> 00:45:27.519
And it may take it, you know, what I don't know what the percentage is.
00:45:27.760 --> 00:45:39.920
It may take it out of their whole range of buying a pool, you know, uh a$70,000 pool by the time you add this and this and this and sod and and a and a fence around it, it may run$100,000.
00:45:40.079 --> 00:45:42.079
They may only had a budget for$70.
00:45:42.400 --> 00:45:44.880
You know, it might, but I'm not worried about that.
00:45:45.039 --> 00:45:48.800
I would much rather people know up front exactly what they're dealing with.
00:45:49.440 --> 00:45:50.880
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00:46:04.400 --> 00:46:19.440
You know, Don, like you're there's the underlying thing that I that I'm hearing, and I and I'm and I I guess I can hear it because I feel the same way, is that you genuinely care for other humans very much in their life in their livelihood.
00:46:19.760 --> 00:46:20.400
Very much.
00:46:20.639 --> 00:46:24.159
I want them, I want to treat them as I want to be treated.
00:46:24.320 --> 00:46:24.719
That's right.
00:46:24.880 --> 00:46:25.679
For sure.
00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:27.280
I really do care.
00:46:27.920 --> 00:46:31.920
You know, I had a lady come in and we do reviews.
00:46:32.079 --> 00:46:32.719
We do a review.
00:46:32.800 --> 00:46:34.320
Sometimes the homeowner will come in.
00:46:34.400 --> 00:46:48.000
If I go out and measure your house or measure your yard and get ready to do your pull first, instead of just the phone data, then I expect you to come in and look at the review on a on a screen with your picture of your pool and everything.
00:46:48.239 --> 00:46:52.880
And uh had a lady come in there and she just wanted to buy a pool.
00:46:53.119 --> 00:46:56.480
And in first five minutes, she says, You're you're just like a used car.
00:46:57.360 --> 00:46:59.599
I said, ma'am, it's not like that.
00:46:59.840 --> 00:47:02.400
All I need you to do is watch a small video here.
00:47:02.559 --> 00:47:03.679
I'm not watching a video.
00:47:03.760 --> 00:47:05.280
I'm here to buy a swimming pool.
00:47:05.519 --> 00:47:09.039
Well, me and my me and my guy that sets up the video walk in the back.
00:47:09.119 --> 00:47:12.400
And I said, he said, Oh my goodness, what are you gonna do with that?
00:47:12.559 --> 00:47:13.920
I said, I'm gonna sell her a pool.
00:47:14.079 --> 00:47:16.159
And he says, How are you gonna sell her a pool?
00:47:16.239 --> 00:47:17.280
I said, watch this.
00:47:17.440 --> 00:47:20.400
I went out there and talked to her the way she talked to me.
00:47:22.320 --> 00:47:24.239
This is the way we do it here, ma'am.
00:47:24.880 --> 00:47:26.800
You've got to watch this right here video.
00:47:26.960 --> 00:47:28.880
You've got to approve the pull.
00:47:29.039 --> 00:47:40.480
And, you know, next thing you know, she's signing on a little later, you know, everybody says, Don's favorite customer.
00:47:40.800 --> 00:47:42.079
Don't favorite customer.
00:47:42.239 --> 00:47:46.960
Now, let me tell you, when I do the follow-up call and she's had her pull for about a month or so.
00:47:47.199 --> 00:47:50.000
Oh my gosh, Don, I am so thankful.
00:47:50.320 --> 00:47:51.760
You did wonderful.
00:47:51.920 --> 00:47:54.159
It's been the best therapy I've ever had.
00:47:54.320 --> 00:47:57.519
I couldn't hardly walk before I got this full, blah, blah, blah.
00:47:57.920 --> 00:48:03.119
Be a good time for me to make a couple sales calls because I'm feeling pretty good about making people happy, right?
00:48:03.440 --> 00:48:07.840
Hey, on that, so you've said that a couple of yeah, yeah, yeah, you've said that a couple of times.
00:48:07.920 --> 00:48:13.679
Like you're getting you're getting enthusiasm from the good results of you.
00:48:13.840 --> 00:48:22.719
And then you build up that emotion to give you the courage, and then I guess, well, not the courage, but the uh really the the kind of the breakthrough, that ceiling, that glass.
00:48:22.880 --> 00:48:26.079
Yeah, yeah, to call with a positive emotion.
00:48:26.239 --> 00:48:33.519
New nobody likes, I mean, some people might, but not a lot of people do not like cold calling and these kind of lee calls.
00:48:33.760 --> 00:48:34.239
Right, right.
00:48:34.639 --> 00:48:37.039
But you gotta have some good positive emo energy.
00:48:37.280 --> 00:48:41.039
Yeah, it just goes back to that little boy that was running from door to door.
00:48:41.199 --> 00:48:44.079
He had so much enthusiasm to get to door number 30.
00:48:44.159 --> 00:48:45.679
He never got to door number 30.
00:48:45.760 --> 00:48:48.800
He had been selling those just due to his enthusiasm.
00:48:48.960 --> 00:48:51.679
Yeah, you know, they're he's writing orders one after another.
00:48:51.760 --> 00:48:56.079
He can't get to 30 quick enough, but it's coming through to the people.
00:48:56.239 --> 00:48:56.480
Yeah.
00:48:56.719 --> 00:48:59.119
You know, I I think you should play off of that.
00:48:59.199 --> 00:49:04.159
You know, if you're putting out fires all morning and uh my goodness, well, the dump truck had what?
00:49:04.239 --> 00:49:06.719
They ran the tire off of it and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:49:06.880 --> 00:49:07.760
Why are we gonna get gravel?
00:49:07.840 --> 00:49:08.960
How are we gonna blah, blah, blah?
00:49:09.280 --> 00:49:11.199
Not a good time to probably make a sales call.
00:49:13.039 --> 00:49:18.559
I would say probably not a good time to make a sales call, but you can get yourself back in that groove pretty quick.
00:49:18.800 --> 00:49:25.199
Yeah, because you kind of got like service, you know, problems that you know, I can always say problems that you're dealing with.
00:49:25.760 --> 00:49:32.480
Then you call and do check-ins with people, and then you make your sales, your, your initial sales calls.
00:49:32.639 --> 00:49:33.840
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:49:34.000 --> 00:49:37.519
You know, you you can categorize them like that, and you can do them like that.
00:49:37.679 --> 00:49:43.519
But I think that what you have to do when you make any of these calls, you got to be enthusiastic about making them.
00:49:43.679 --> 00:49:44.000
Yeah.
00:49:44.159 --> 00:49:47.920
You know, I uh recently was taking care of my wife.
00:49:48.079 --> 00:49:53.360
She had a uh little horse injury, the horse didn't win, and it wasn't the horse's fault.
00:49:53.519 --> 00:49:57.679
So hey, before you go any further though, Don's mom is what, 83?
00:49:57.920 --> 00:49:58.320
82.
00:49:58.559 --> 00:49:58.880
82.
00:50:01.039 --> 00:50:02.559
She does barrel racing.
00:50:02.719 --> 00:50:02.960
Yeah.
00:50:03.440 --> 00:50:03.519
Yeah.
00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:05.599
No, 82 years old.
00:50:06.079 --> 00:50:07.920
You see why this guy's the way he is?
00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:08.079
Yes.
00:50:09.199 --> 00:50:12.000
So, you know, before I come to the podcast, I called mom.
00:50:12.239 --> 00:50:14.800
She didn't answer, but I called her for a little bit of pep talk.
00:50:14.880 --> 00:50:18.000
And she would have, she would have been like, oh, it's gonna be no problem for you.
00:50:18.159 --> 00:50:22.480
You know, I said, Hey, mom, you're not gonna believe this, but I've already got 40 pulls out.
00:50:22.719 --> 00:50:24.559
She said, Yeah, I believe it.
00:50:24.639 --> 00:50:26.159
I expected more.
00:50:28.559 --> 00:50:35.119
You know, and so the beauty of that is is I did grow up in a there's no such thing as can't do.
00:50:35.360 --> 00:50:36.480
Yeah, exactly.
00:50:36.719 --> 00:50:37.760
So so there's no such thing.
00:50:38.159 --> 00:50:39.039
I'd say the same thing.
00:50:39.199 --> 00:50:42.400
My dad was very supportive and always told me I could do anything.
00:50:42.639 --> 00:50:43.119
That's awesome.
00:50:43.199 --> 00:50:44.800
And and I've done it with my kids.
00:50:44.960 --> 00:50:49.840
Yeah, you know, there's no limitations you can do it, and I don't want to hear I can't do it.
00:50:49.920 --> 00:50:55.679
Yeah, there's too many uh too many people trying to find a way not to do things is a way to do things.
00:50:55.760 --> 00:50:57.280
But so I interrupted you though.
00:50:57.360 --> 00:50:59.119
You were staying home with your wife taking care of your wife.
00:50:59.280 --> 00:51:07.039
Yeah, so I was taking care of my wife, and uh so during this time I still got 10 or 12 daddies to call each day.
00:51:07.199 --> 00:51:09.760
I'm not taking off work by no means, heck no.
00:51:09.920 --> 00:51:15.599
So I've got the dadas there, and I would go out on my front porch and I'd set me up the table.
00:51:15.679 --> 00:51:19.679
And I've got the horses over here, freshly mowed lawn right here.
00:51:20.239 --> 00:51:28.239
And man, you just no one listening, just me and those customers, and I just felt so good about it.
00:51:28.400 --> 00:51:30.320
And I could just blam the blah.
00:51:30.480 --> 00:51:37.440
And nobody, you know, I'm not interrupted, I'm not having anybody walk in the office, I'm not having this, I'm not listening to this.
00:51:37.599 --> 00:51:40.320
Uh it really, it just shows.
00:51:40.400 --> 00:51:43.679
And so I was I was telling the boss about it, I said, man, I was sitting on my porch.
00:51:43.760 --> 00:51:45.760
He goes, Oh, I know you're rocking it.
00:51:46.639 --> 00:51:50.000
And it just, it just goes show, just get your mindset right.
00:51:50.239 --> 00:51:51.840
Salesmen have to have that.
00:51:51.920 --> 00:51:56.559
Yeah, it's not a humdrum job, it's a it's an excellent job.
00:51:56.800 --> 00:52:04.400
And I think I take it so serious and so much as a joy now because I don't have to keep the books.
00:52:04.480 --> 00:52:05.519
Yeah, I don't have to.
00:52:05.760 --> 00:52:06.960
You're doing what you do best.
00:52:07.280 --> 00:52:08.320
Let the salespeople sell.
00:52:08.639 --> 00:52:09.360
That's the salespeople.
00:52:09.599 --> 00:52:10.880
That's a that's a great statement.
00:52:11.039 --> 00:52:11.599
That's true.
00:52:11.679 --> 00:52:13.679
That's a big problem, I think, in a lot of companies.
00:52:13.840 --> 00:52:14.400
Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:52:14.480 --> 00:52:16.159
And I'm trying to make it that way here.
00:52:16.239 --> 00:52:17.119
I'd really try.
00:52:17.199 --> 00:52:17.679
It's hard.
00:52:17.840 --> 00:52:25.599
It's hard to do that because there's so many things that the rest of the team needs from the salesperson has all this in their brain.
00:52:25.760 --> 00:52:26.159
That's right.
00:52:26.320 --> 00:52:33.679
In those processes, but yeah, you know, it, but I mean, I get a lot of times like like the you know, whether it's customer success or billings really bad.
00:52:33.760 --> 00:52:36.480
Hey, we need to get that salesperson to get all that billing information.
00:52:36.559 --> 00:52:37.840
I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
00:52:37.920 --> 00:52:38.559
Hold on, hold on.
00:52:38.719 --> 00:52:47.199
Yeah, I don't want them down in the weeds of a lot of stuff, you know, that I need them making another call, touch, building a relationship with that client.
00:52:47.360 --> 00:52:48.400
And so it's hard.
00:52:48.480 --> 00:52:50.000
I gotta go to a lunch, unfortunately.
00:52:50.079 --> 00:52:51.119
Don, I can hang out with it.
00:52:51.199 --> 00:52:51.519
Oh, great.
00:52:51.599 --> 00:52:53.679
No, well, we're running out of time.
00:52:53.920 --> 00:52:55.039
Yeah, I mean, it's been an hour.
00:52:55.360 --> 00:52:56.079
It's been awesome.
00:52:56.239 --> 00:52:56.639
Oh, I could.
00:52:56.880 --> 00:52:59.599
I was like, how am I how are they gonna get enough out of me?
00:53:00.480 --> 00:53:02.960
We didn't even get to talk about cars and bikes.
00:53:04.400 --> 00:53:06.159
I wonder if Don and I will be able to do that.
00:53:06.239 --> 00:53:07.679
But yes, for sure.
00:53:07.920 --> 00:53:08.239
For sure.
00:53:08.480 --> 00:53:09.519
No, this is great, Don.
00:53:09.760 --> 00:53:10.559
We really appreciate it.
00:53:10.719 --> 00:53:12.159
I hope people out there are listening.
00:53:12.320 --> 00:53:12.960
I do too.
00:53:13.199 --> 00:53:19.280
Because, you know, I think if to summarize a lot of this, Don thinks like an owner of a business.
00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:20.719
And he is.
00:53:20.880 --> 00:53:22.480
I mean, it's his own business.
00:53:22.960 --> 00:53:23.199
Exactly.
00:53:23.440 --> 00:53:23.679
Okay.
00:53:24.159 --> 00:53:34.000
Everybody out there, if you're an employee somewhere, you are a business and you got one customer you got to please, and and he he understands that.
00:53:34.159 --> 00:53:37.039
That's why he doesn't just shut down and do the least amount.
00:53:37.199 --> 00:53:39.519
He's a real business owner.
00:53:39.679 --> 00:53:40.559
You do whatever you got to do.
00:53:40.880 --> 00:53:42.079
You do whatever you gotta do.
00:53:42.239 --> 00:53:42.960
That's exactly right.
00:53:43.280 --> 00:53:46.559
Always and I'm gonna say something to my daughter, my girls, yeah.
00:53:46.880 --> 00:53:49.440
And I'm going to say something to the young folks.
00:53:49.840 --> 00:53:56.000
As you think about and they have all these fears backing up about AI and all this technology, sales.
00:53:56.239 --> 00:53:57.760
Nobody's gonna be able to replace you.
00:53:58.079 --> 00:54:14.000
Never and and you know what people and the that's and and also if you're in college or you've been in school and you don't feel like you belong, you hate studying, you don't want to be behind the computer for the rest of your life, you got all this confusion because the world pointing that way, yeah.
00:54:14.320 --> 00:54:19.599
Sales is an absolutely fantastic place to be in because you're a professional business.
00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:21.280
Providing extreme value.
00:54:21.440 --> 00:54:24.559
You know exactly where what value you're providing all the time.
00:54:24.800 --> 00:54:28.559
You have great responsibility, you earn a lot of money, and guess what?
00:54:28.719 --> 00:54:30.800
You build a hell of a lot of great relationships.
00:54:31.519 --> 00:54:36.239
If you're a people person, if you're a people person, this is the absolute best place to be.
00:54:36.320 --> 00:54:38.960
And I'm kind of speaking to a couple of my girls that are.
00:54:39.280 --> 00:54:39.760
Good, good.
00:54:40.079 --> 00:54:42.159
Because they just don't see them like you need to be in sales.
00:54:42.320 --> 00:54:44.159
Oh, no, no, it's like you don't understand.
00:54:44.639 --> 00:54:48.239
Listen, I got one quick story, and then I know we got to wrap it up.
00:54:48.400 --> 00:54:55.760
I got all these students here um la this week for my classes that I teach in small enterprise management.
00:54:56.000 --> 00:54:58.159
I had a kid come up to me after class last night.
00:54:58.320 --> 00:55:11.280
He's got a window washing company started a couple years ago, 25 employees and his top salesperson who is a college student this summer,$10,000 a month.
00:55:11.519 --> 00:55:12.159
Good for him.
00:55:12.480 --> 00:55:14.320
Okay, you write your own tickets.
00:55:14.559 --> 00:55:15.760
$10,000 a month.
00:55:15.920 --> 00:55:18.639
Can you believe that as a student to make that?
00:55:18.960 --> 00:55:20.719
You write your own tickets, you really do.
00:55:21.039 --> 00:55:26.719
And and just look at it, like I said, do not look at it downgrading or anything like that.
00:55:26.960 --> 00:55:28.960
Take pride in being a salesperson.
00:55:29.440 --> 00:55:37.440
And like I said, you could go to a bunch of years of college with a lot of debt, or you can become a salesman.
00:55:37.679 --> 00:55:40.000
And a salesman can write his own ticket, you know.
00:55:40.159 --> 00:55:40.480
That's right.
00:55:40.639 --> 00:55:46.400
You don't make a whole lot selling door-to-door some things, but you get to sell a bunch of things.
00:55:46.559 --> 00:55:47.599
That's right, you know.
00:55:47.840 --> 00:55:49.440
Uh sales is it.
00:55:49.599 --> 00:55:50.880
I I'm a firm believer in it.
00:55:51.039 --> 00:55:51.840
I am too, man.
00:55:52.159 --> 00:55:55.519
And I think that any entrepreneur, you have to be excellent at sales.
00:55:55.599 --> 00:55:56.239
Oh, we absolutely have to do it.
00:55:56.320 --> 00:55:56.800
You have to be.
00:55:56.880 --> 00:55:58.800
And that's actually that's why I I start.
00:55:58.880 --> 00:56:01.760
I mean, like to me, it's sales is always my number one thing.
00:56:01.920 --> 00:56:07.920
I'm sure I work my ass off every day to try to get back into sales as in my best so hard.
00:56:08.159 --> 00:56:09.760
And I'm I'm getting closer.
00:56:10.159 --> 00:56:10.800
It is fun.
00:56:10.880 --> 00:56:11.599
I agree with you.
00:56:11.920 --> 00:56:16.960
I I have I've been so lucky to get to walk right back into sales and just uh oh, that's great.
00:56:17.199 --> 00:56:32.320
It's it's it's like, you know, I I hustled and worked and hustled all my life, and it's like uh uh begged for every deal that I can get and just worked and worked and worked, and now then it's almost time to retire, and it's just flowing at me.
00:56:32.559 --> 00:56:33.519
Like just coming at me.
00:56:33.679 --> 00:56:36.400
I'm like, I'd be nuts to try to retire now.
00:56:36.800 --> 00:56:38.159
Having too much money.
00:56:38.400 --> 00:56:40.159
I'm having we're never gonna retire.
00:56:40.559 --> 00:56:41.840
No, you know that's no way.
00:56:42.239 --> 00:56:42.960
That's for sure.
00:56:43.119 --> 00:56:43.440
All right.
00:56:43.599 --> 00:56:44.960
Well, hey, everybody.
00:56:45.119 --> 00:56:47.679
Uh, this is uh one last thing, Don.
00:56:47.920 --> 00:56:50.960
If anybody wants to reach you, what is your email address?
00:56:51.360 --> 00:56:54.400
It is uh homepropools.com.
00:56:54.639 --> 00:56:57.440
Okay, so homepro pools they can reach you through that.
00:56:57.599 --> 00:56:59.119
Yes, they can reach me through that.
00:56:59.280 --> 00:56:59.519
Okay.
00:56:59.679 --> 00:56:59.920
Yes.
00:57:00.159 --> 00:57:00.880
All right, great.
00:57:01.039 --> 00:57:07.599
Well, listen, uh, this has been another episode of Big Talk about small business.
00:57:14.320 --> 00:57:17.920
Thanks for tuning into this episode of Big Talk About Small Business.
00:57:18.079 --> 00:57:31.920
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00:57:32.159 --> 00:57:36.079
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00:57:36.239 --> 00:57:42.239
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